Lovesick When You're Not Around
by pfeffi
Summary: He gives her a glimpse of his warm smile, and suddenly she doesn't feel as bad. — ElliTrent.


**lovesick when you're not around  
**_(symptoms: a heart beating faster and work is a disaster.)_

.

**v. **

The first time she feels it, she's fourteen and he's sixteen, just about to go to the city to study medicine.

She's there to see him off and can't help but feel a twinge of sadness streak through her. He notices her despair, despite her (best) efforts to hide it, and gives her a glimpse of his warm smile; suddenly she doesn't feel so bad.

So when he waves from the deck of the boat, she waves back vigorously and as soon as the boat is gone, sends a silent prayer to the Harvest Goddess. _Please bring him back safely_, she asks, eyes scrunched shut.

Elli doesn't hear the moss haired deity laugh as she sends forth her blessing.

**iv.**

The second time she's sixteen and he's eighteen and she hasn't heard from him in two months.

She tries to tell herself that he's busy with exams and school and it's probably just nothing (the letter probably got lost in the mail), but she can't help but worry. They've sent each other letters for two _years_ regularly, and Elli knows that he never fails to send her something.

But she also knows that he can be very forgetful; a panic seizes her chest – had he forgotten about her? She wrings her hands and tries to remain calm, but cannot stop the flood of thoughts that sweeps through her mind.

"Hey sis', you've got a letter!" Calls her brother; her eyes brighten and she leaps from her bed, down the stairs in the blink of an eye.

And when she sees his handwriting scribble an apology about how his mail service was delayed and his finals are soon, she relaxes and can't help but laugh (cry) off the worry.

**iii. **

When she's seventeen and he's nineteen and she gets the news that he's coming home, she's ecstatic.

Words cannot describe the gleeful feeling she experiences, and her excitement is barely containable. In fact, Ellen is nearly overwhelmed and Stu finds it annoying, but both of them secretly agree with each other that they are happy to see her smile so wide and see her eyes shine as brightly as they did before he had left three years ago.

On the day of his arrival, she waits by the dock, giddy, as she shifts her weight back and forth between her feet and waits for the boat to slow to a stop. The person who gets off of the boat is not who she remembers, he is a more tired man, tall, strikingly handsome, but she just doesn't get the feeling that he's the same. (There is a fleeting moment of doubt whether it really _is_ him or not).

He looks up and notices her, and his face breaks into that same warm smile that she keeps dear and his eyes twinkle in that familiar way that only he could pull off, and she knows it's him. She's breathless and happy and when he takes her into his arms and embraces her, she knows he has missed her as much as she has missed him.

**ii. **

Their clinic is up and running when she's nineteen and he's twenty-one, and summer is drawing to an end.

She gets that feeling again when she's around him. That fluttery feeling that dyes her cheeks a rose apple color and makes her stumble over her words (just a little). Mary in all her sage ways, shyly tells her that it is love – and she's a library, and librarians are smart, so she would know – but Elli still has her doubts. After all, she's only ever loved her grandmother and her troublemaker of a brother… or has she?

Elli doesn't explore the feeling further until two seasons have passed and it's winter and he casually asks her if she wants to spend the Starry Night Festival together with him. Of course she says yes – why wouldn't she? – and then Mary's words begin to make sense. And as they sit together under the twinkling sky diamonds they feel young and beautiful and _free_, and the kiss, the gentle brush of lips, they share makes perfect sense.

So when it comes down to it, Mary is right: Elli is in love – in fact she's lovesick, but in a good, unique kind of way.

**i. **

She's twenty one and he's twenty three when the new farmer girl comes into town.

Elli can't help but feel despair at the new arrival; she has those pretty blue eyes and long blonde hair, she's selfless and hard working and _perfect. _She already dreads when the girl (who even has a beautiful name, Claire) comes into the clinic to take a peek at the happenings within. He greets her with a faint trace of a smile, introduces himself, and offers to give her a free check-up.

He's so friendly and wonderful and he's perfect too, and Elli's heart breaks as she realizes they would fit so well together. Compared to the new girl, she was just a rag doll with mousy hair, battered shoes, and a cute little apron with patches sewn in to keep it together. But she smiles all the same as Claire shakes her hand, despite the overwhelming feeling of distraught.

_Because,_ she reminds herself with a thin frown and clenched fists, _a work of perfection is supposed to be with one of it's own kind._ Meaning that raggedy Elli really stood no chance against the angel that had graced the little clinic with her visit.

So later when Claire is gone and the two of them are all alone, cleaning up what little mess there was and locking all the doors and cabinets, she works up the courage to tell him what she feels needs to be said. After all, if you truly, _truly_ love someone, you're willing to let them go – at least, that's what Mary's book says.

It doesn't come out as elegant as she wishes it would have, she ends up mumbling; "I know that she's better so I'll understand if you want to go after her."

He gives her the most incredulous look and does his best to stop himself from laughing, but he can't help but chuckle at the look she's giving him. Her face contorts with confusion and he gently ruffles her hair, leaning forward to kiss her nose.

"My dear Elli," he smiles. "I only have eyes for you."

And he makes her feel so beautiful, so special, that she can't help but smile back.

* * *

This couple really is cute. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it!  
The song inspiration is Fever, by Kylie Minogue.


End file.
